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Central Notes: Stephenson, Bulls

January 28th, 2014 at 6:34pm CST by Cray Allred

The Bulls have continued to win a surprising amount of games after trading Luol Deng to the Cavs. Taj Gibson told reporters, including K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune, he believes they can keep winning, even as they embark on a 6-game road trip against Western Conference opponents. Here are some other notes from the Central Division:

  • While Lance Stephenson won’t hint much at his pending unrestricted free agency, his parents tell Mark Montieth of Pacers.com that they are optimistic he will stay with the Pacers. The guard, enjoying a breakout season, was told by team president Larry Bird that an extension was on the way. “I listened to Larry Bird (at the press conference to announce Paul George‘s long-term contract last summer) say, ‘Lance, you’ll be sitting here with your dad.’ That’s what we believe,” Stephenson’s father says. “Until otherwise, that’s the plan. Larry Bird said that and we bought into it. We believe it, Lance believes it.”
  • Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf told WGN’s Rich King on Monday that the Bulls will sign Nikola Mirotic no later than the summer of 2015, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune transcribes. The Bulls own the rights to Mirotic, who is currently playing in Spain.
  • Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders thinks that the Bulls would benefit from trading for Carmelo Anthony before the trade deadline. In a hypothetical trade package, Beer likes the idea of Chicago parting with Jimmy Butler, Carlos Boozer, Tony Snell, Kirk Hinrich and two draft picks to obtain Anthony, Iman Shumpert, and Raymond Felton. “A starting five of Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, Carmelo Anthony, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah would be an awfully intriguing starting unit,” Beer explains. “Felton would serve as insurance for Rose, in case the former MVP has any hiccups in his return from injury. And once Rose is back and completely healthy, Felton would be a solid back-up point guard, and could also, at times, play alongside Rose in the same backcourt.”
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Odds & Ends: Magic, Stephenson, Warriors

December 28th, 2013 at 7:38pm CST by Jonathan Nehring

Shortly after playing in his first game back since he suffered a torn meniscus, Solomon Jones told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel he is enjoying more than being able to return to playing for the Magic. Jones, who is playing on a minimum salary contract this season, has enjoyed living close to his childhood home and his family. Averaging almost eight minutes in the games he has played, it will be seen whether Jones will play his way into another season near his home town.

A few other notes around the league.

  • According to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated (Twitter Link), rival NBA executives are predicting that Pacers guard Lance Stephenson will be worth between $7-9MM per season when he enters free agency next summer. While the Pacers and Stephenson have both expressed interest in re-signing with each other next season, a $9MM price tag would almost guarantee they will only be able to re-sign either Stephenson or fellow Pacer free agent, Danny Granger.
  • The Warriors have assigned center Ognjen Kuzmic and guard Nemanja Nedovic to their NBA D-League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors. In a team announcement, the Warriors said both rookies will be able to play in tonight’s D-League game. Kuzmic has missed most of this season with a hand injury but has averaged 4.1 MPG in the games he has played with the Warriors. Nedovic has appeared in all but 10 of the Warriors games averaging 6.4 MPG, and 1.1 PPG.
  • According to Jason Lloyd of the Beacon Journal, the Cavaliers biggest need this season is at the small forward position. Former head coach Byron Scott told Lloyd in the summer of 2012 that the Cavaliers have been trying to resolve that position for some time but have not been successful to date. Aware that Cleveland spent their first overall pick on small forward Anthony Bennett, Lloyd still thinks the Cavaliers are looking to fill that hole and could do so in this season’s trade market. The only issue according to Lloyd is every inquiring team wants Dion Waiters in any trade they do with Cleveland which is a move the Cavaliers are unwilling to make.
  • Although we knew Brook Lopez‘s season is over, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York reports that Brook Lopez will undergo surgery on his foot January 4th officially ending his 2013/14 campaign. Unless the Nets trade him, Lopez will be back for Brooklyn next season continuing the 4 year contract he signed back in 2012.
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Pacers Rumors: Hill, Granger, Stephenson

December 24th, 2013 at 12:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pacers are off until Saturday after last night’s blowout win over the Nets, but many of the team’s players take it as a slight that the NBA excluded them from the Christmas Day games, observes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com.  Indiana would certainly be a welcome addition to a holiday schedule that doesn’t look quite as star-studded as it did when the season began. Here’s more on the Pacers:

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Central Notes: Pacers, Varejao, Deng

December 22nd, 2013 at 12:51pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pacers aren’t looking for Danny Granger trades, but they wouldn’t be averse to such a move if they came across the right deal, as we passed along yesterday. Team president Larry Bird can envision re-signing both Granger and Lance Stephenson in free agency this summer, as Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star noted in his piece, but that could be a tight squeeze unless owner Herb Simon relents on his no-tax pledge, a change of heart Bird seems to hope for. Here’s more on the teams looking up at the first-place Pacers in the Central Division standings:

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Pacers Notes: Bird On Stephenson, West, Hibbert

December 14th, 2013 at 9:15pm CST by Jonathan Nehring

Mark Montieth of Pacers.com sat down with Larry Bird to discuss all things Pacers. Here are a few highlights from that discussion.

  • Bird thinks the Pacers are the best option for Lance Stephenson and says the Pacers would want to resign Stephenson next summer. Bird claims they will offer Stephenson a “great offer” but doesn’t know what is going to happen next summer.
  • Bird attributes David West‘s signing with the Pacers for less money than the Celtics were offering, to West’s agent, Lance Young of Excel Sports Management, expressing to him that West was very interested in playing for the Pacers as well as his willingness to meet with Pacers’ doctors regarding his knee injury.
  • Had it not been for Roy Hibbert‘s agent, David Falk, the Pacers might not have drafted Hibbert. Bird was promised by Falk that he would make sure Hibbert fell to the Pacers 17th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. When Falk kept his end of the deal, Bird followed through and drafted Hibbert.
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Central Notes: Deng, Bulls, Pacers

November 29th, 2013 at 6:01pm CST by Ryan Raroque

The Cavaliers reportedly had interest in trading for Luol Deng this past summer but were rebuffed by the Bulls, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. As of now, Deveney adds, it doesn’t appear that anything on that front will change anytime soon, and unless Chicago can obtain a 2014 draft pick, there isn’t much sense in moving Deng. Here’s more out of the Central Division tonight, including much more from Deveney:

  • That same piece explores the trade value of Carlos Boozer, who according to one general manager isn’t really being sought after by any team at this point. While the Bulls still have the former Duke product on their books until 2015, Deveney opines that the Knicks might become desperate enough to make a move for him to shore up their struggling front court.
  • Deveney also writes that Joakim Noah still has high value around the league despite his battles with injury over the last few seasons. The Knicks would appear to be another logical landing spot for the 6’11 center, although the Pelicans, Thunder, and Mavericks are expected to be in pursuit should the Bulls place Noah on the trading block.
  • Lastly, with reports that Nikola Mirotic – whose draft rights are still owned by the Bulls – has developed into a star in Spain, Deveney says that if Chicago were to package his rights in a deal including Deng, Noah, or Boozer, they would be looking to get a star player in return. According to one scout, Mirotic is currently the “best player who is not in the NBA right now.” If Mirotic weren’t included in a deal involving any of those three, the Bulls would supposedly settle for cap relief, draft picks, and/or young talent.
  • Sam Smith of Bulls.com opened his mailbag and dissects trade suggestions sent in by his readers.
  • Sports Illustrated’s Ian Thomsen thinks the Pacers currently have the requisite pieces in place to make a title run this season. However, considering Indiana’s vow to remain under the tax threshold, the team isn’t likely to maintain the same type of depth after this year, especially with Danny Granger‘s contract set to expire and Lance Stephenson due for a new contract.
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Pacers Signal Intent To Re-Sign Stephenson

November 8th, 2013 at 6:47pm CST by Chuck Myron

Pacers president Larry Bird has been dropping hints to Lance Stephenson that the team intends to take care of him in free agency this summer, as Stephenson tells Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star. Bird keeps telling him, “You’re next,” Stephenson says, likely in reference to the lucrative contracts the team has handed out the past two summers to Roy Hibbert, David West and George Hill.

Stephenson is confident he’ll stay with the Pacers even though his bargain contract, which pays him slightly more than $1MM this year, expires at season’s end. The Pacers also have Danny Granger on an expiring deal, and with about $60.6MM committed for next season, it’ll be a tight squeeze to stay under the projected $75.7MM luxury tax line. Indiana’s brass has repeatedly expressed unwillingness to pay the tax, so it may come down to a choice between Stephenson and Granger, barring a trade to clear more room.

I doubt Stephenson will see a contract with an eight-figure annual salary, like the deals for Hibbert and West, but perhaps the club would be willing to do something similar to Hill’s $40MM deal, in which the team spread the money out over the maximum five seasons. That still wouldn’t leave much room for Granger if he returns to a form that’s at all close to what he exhibited before missing almost all of last season, but it would still give the team some breathing room to sign draft picks and other free agents.

Of course, the Pacers and Stephenson can’t sign a new contract until after the July Moratorium, more than eight months from now, and he’s ineligible for an extension, so plenty can change before pen hits paper. Stephenson left tonight’s game with a sore left knee, and while it doesn’t sound too serious, it serves as a reminder that a significant injury could prompt the team to change its plans.

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Odds & Ends: Bledsoe, Stephenson, Korver

November 7th, 2013 at 7:36pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Eric Bledsoe has kicked off his inaugural campaign as a full-time starter in Phoenix with a bang, averaging 21.0 PPG, 7.2 APG, 5.0 RPG, 1.8 SPG in 33.8 MPG, and helping the Suns to a 3-2 record after five games. The 4th year veteran is set to become a restricted free agent next summer after failing to land an extension last week, and while some may be worried that this potentially means a short tenure for Bledsoe in Phoenix, GM Ryan McDonough was openly optimistic about being able to re-sign him (Adam Green of Arizona Sports, hat tip to Burns and Gambo of Arizona Sports 620):

“I feel very confident that he’s going to be a Sun long-term…We negotiated with Eric and his agents. I think the contract situation was handled very professionally on both ends…We can match any offer to Eric next summer…Another advantage would be we have an extra year to play with. Other teams who are making Eric an offer can offer him four years, we can offer him up to five if we chose to do so…So there’s some inherent advantages that I just mentioned, also we can give higher percentage increases than another team could give Eric in a contract.”

Here are some more miscellaneous news and notes to pass along tonight:

  • Looking into Lance Stephenson‘s comments that he thinks the Pacers would “do anything” to keep him in Indiana for the long term, Candace Buckner of IndyStar.com (along with USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt) explores how the 23-year-old shooting guard could be positioning himself for a five-year max deal next summer. While I’m not too sure about labeling Stephenson as a max-level player at this point, if he can maintain his current averages of 16.3 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 4.6 APG, and 47% shooting from the field, he should draw some very lucrative offers next July.
  • Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post notes how the Nuggets’ plans to recruit Kyle Korver this past summer led to nothing more than brief contact because of the massive turnover that had been going on within the front office and coaching staff. Korver would eventually re-sign with the Hawks.
  • The Thunder have hired former Raptors vice president and assistant GM Maurizio Gherardini in a senior adviser/international affairs position, according to Darnell Mayberry of NewsOK.
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Lance Stephenson Plans To Stay With Pacers

November 4th, 2013 at 1:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Having locked up Paul George to a maximum-salary extension this offseason, the Pacers’ ability to continue adding salary for 2014/15 may be limited. However, Lance Stephenson, who will hit free agency next summer, tells Mark Montieth of Pacers.com that he fully intends to remain with the Pacers.

“It’s a long season, I’m not thinking nothing about contracts,” Stephenson said. “I’m going to stay with the Pacers, so I’m not even thinking about the contract.”

Asked if that meant he’d turn down a larger offer from another term to re-sign with Indiana, Stephenson said again that he’s “staying with the Pacers.” We’re still nearly eight months from next year’s free agent period, so we probably shouldn’t read too much into Stephenson’s comments yet. When other teams with deeper pockets get the opportunity to court him, things could change. For now though, it seems as if the 23-year-old wants to work out a new deal with the Pacers

The Pacers already project to be an over-the-cap team in 2014/15, with about $60MM committed to eight guaranteed contracts. Adding Luis Scola‘s partially guaranteed deal and a modest salary for Stephenson could have the team inching toward tax territory, which is likely an area ownership wants to avoid.

Because he’s playing his fourth season in the NBA, Stephenson will be an unrestricted free agent in 2014. That means the Pacers won’t necessarily have the opportunity to match rival offers for the former second-round pick, but it sounds like he’ll probably give the club that chance anyway.

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Eastern Notes: Stephenson, Jordan, Marshall

November 3rd, 2013 at 12:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

Lance Stephenson is off to a hot start for the Pacers, further underscoring the dilemma the team will face in the summer when the shooting guard’s bargain contract runs out. Stephenson nonetheless swears to Mark Montieth of Pacers.com that he’ll be back in Indiana, despite the team’s cramped financial picture.

“I don’t think about that,” Stephenson said about his impending free agency. “It’s a long season, I’m not thinking nothing about contracts. I’m going to stay with the Pacers, so I’m not even thinking about the contract.”

It’s not uncommon for a player to declare allegiance to his franchise when he’s months away from free agency, only to change his mind when the money’s on the table. While we wait to see if Stephenson is true to his word, here’s more from the NBA:

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